1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of information services and, more particularly, to automated toll-free information services and apparatus used for performing such services where, for example, in the United States, there exist certain toll-free xe2x80x9carea codesxe2x80x9d or prefixes for identifying a toll-free call such as 1-800 and 1-888 and wherein such automated toll-free information services may comprise an Internet link to an information services database.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Information services are well known. A caller, desirous of receiving a telephone number for a listing, typically dials an abbreviated telephone number such as 411 or, for long distance, an area code followed by a standard 555-1212 telephone number in the United States for receiving directory assistance. For 1-800 and 1-888 listings of toll-free numbers, consumers can obtain directory assistance in such a simplified manner but are limited to one toll-free number per call. (Recently in the United States, ATandT announced the introduction of an additional 1-877 toll-free service.) The user of toll-free information services calls 1-800-555-1212 and is greeted by ATandT operator services and may receive, for example, a 1-800 toll-free number for a hotel chain reservation number. Many toll-free numbers, typically for businesses, may be found in the Yellow Pages (R) information section of a telephone directory and also are listed in a special toll-free telephone directory which may be obtained for a fee.
Information services are now automated to a great extent. When a caller dials directory assistance, the caller is typically greeted by a voice response unit which requests xe2x80x9cFor what city pleasexe2x80x9d and a name of a desired listing from the caller. In many instances, the caller may receive a synthesized voice response providing the directory listing. In other instances, the caller may be referred to a live operator at an information service position who may manually assist the caller to receive the synthesized voice response.
Despite the progress toward further automation of directory assistance and information services, there continues a further need to make the process as thoroughly automated as possible and, moreover, provide specialized nationwide assistance to callers requesting toll-free telephone number and other information assistance.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/635,801, filed Apr. 22, 1996, entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Information Retrieval Using Audio Interfacexe2x80x9d of Benedikt et al., there is generally described a network-based information retrieval service for retrieving text-to-voice (TCP/IP to conventional telecommunications) conversion via an interpreter. The interpreter interprets a document into audio data which is provided to an audio user interface. Such an audio browsing adjunct forms an apparatus basis for the present service and apparatus and its disclosure is incorporated by reference herein as to its entire contents.
Also, in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/991,437, filed Dec. 16, 1997, entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Providing Telephone Network Based Conversant Servicesxe2x80x9d of Aris A. Yiannoulos, there is described an enhancement of the Benedikt et al system for providing network-based voice interactive services. The user of that invention does not need to provide voice interactive systems on their premises. The user, typically a business customer, may share a network-based voice interactive system with other users. For example, a business may have a toll-free number for allowing employees to retrieve employee savings plan information. The network-based information system provides such information to the employee who calls requesting such information in the same manner as if the voice interactive system were on the employer""s premises.
Yet there remains a need in the art for a specialized, automated toll-free information service and apparatus for providing automated information services to callers in need of a toll-free directory listing. Moreover, the system should be flexible enough to permit matching of a plurality of choices of toll-free listings which may be responsive to a general query, for example, for a category of listings.
In the field of toll-free information services and in accordance with the present invention, a network-based server is provided of the type generally described by Benedikt et al. Such a network based service and apparatus may have a unique telecommunications network listing such as 1-800-FIND-4-ME. The user interested in using this service will dial this directory listing and receive toll-free service (there would be no charge for the call). On the other hand, those that subscribe to a toll-free telephone directory may also wish to have their listing made available also over the 1-800-FIND-4-ME service. These customers, typically, business customers, may be provided the service of the present invention for free as a value-added benefit for having subscribed to the toll-free directory or, in the alternative, be asked to pay for such a listing. In either manner, the service may be provided for free to the caller.
According to the present invention, once the caller dials the toll-free 1-800-FIND-4-ME number, the call is routed via a toll switch in a well known manner to a server such as that described by the Benedikt et al. application. An announcement will play such as xe2x80x9cWelcome to the toll-free search service. Please give me the category or type of information you request.xe2x80x9d The caller will be asked to identify a category of interest to the user such as xe2x80x9cclothing catalog servicesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cbicycling catalogs.xe2x80x9d In response, a voice interactive system will ask the caller to verify that the listing or information is truly what the caller wishes by repeating the request. In this manner, the caller may verify the request has been accurately interpreted and signify the same by saying xe2x80x9cYes.xe2x80x9d
Once the request is verified, the voice interactive system initiates a search which may be via the Internet or telecommunications data links to a, preferably, centralized database. The search may return a single response or a plurality of possible responses to the request for a category of listings. If the search of the database is by TCP/IP Internet links, the database may return audio clip packets representing the various matches to the request or the database may return data representing the matches. If the database search is requested by telecommunications data links, the links may be medium speed or baud rate or even lower speed on a bandwidth-on-demand basis, for example, via out-of-band signaling systems such as SS7.
Upon receipt at the server of the data responsive to the query, a response to the user is provided by the network-based voice interactive system such as: xe2x80x9cThere are five matches to your information request. Would you like to hear about them?xe2x80x9d Upon a yes reply by the caller, the voice interactive system may announce: xe2x80x9cWe will scroll through the entries and play a brief recording introducing the company to you. You may directly connect to the company by pressing the 1 key or skip to the next entry by pressing the pound # key. You may also go back to any point by repeatedly pressing the star * key or by pressing the entry number followed by the pound #key.xe2x80x9d
According to principles described in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/005,256, filed Jan. 9, 1998, for xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for an Automated Barge-In Systemxe2x80x9d of Steve Salimando, incorporated by reference as to its entire contents, the caller may interrupt at any time during the process and connect to a business listing or even hang up. The user may do so by pressing a key as suggested above, or, in accordance with the ""256 application, say the words xe2x80x9cPlease dialxe2x80x9d and be automatically connected to the destination.
A further feature of the present invention is the opportunity to announce the toll-free telephone number to the caller before launching the call to the number and providing the caller with the opportunity to write down or otherwise record it. If the caller does not wish to automatically launch a call to that listing, the caller may simply hang-up. Finally, another feature of the present invention is that the automated toll-free information service may be implemented via a voice call or via the Internet and E-Mail.